In the understatement of the decade, Noel Dempsey said he might leave politics because "it wasn't working". You don't say. But for one decision -- the near abolition of the execrable stamp duty -- the Budget was a failure. That decision, however, is a chink of light in the darkness.

Forgive my mentioning it, but this columnist's relentless assault on that tax since February 2006 shows how disastrous decisions can be reversed. The scales are now falling from taxpayers' eyes. With the State now exposed as a vested interest -- just as greedy and exploitative as any bank, and willing to cut welfare and raises taxes on the weak to preserve its privileges -- decisions made on Tuesday can, with time and vigilance, be overturned and reversed.

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